“My life is fine if I never see McGregor again”: Former sparring partner on Notorious

The build-up to the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather fight has been indifferent; in all honesty, it’s been underwhelming, verging on times of embarrassing for both camps.

Aside from what can be viewed as potential racial and homophobic slurs from the two headliners, the fight has been further overshadowed by the pure greed that engulfs the whole saga – greed of the fighters, and those selling the ‘event’ to sports fans.

It was almost a small win for sport that tickets to the event sold slower than they were expected to; the arrogance of both camps have probably tasted a dose of reality over the past week that they’re selling tickets to the ‘circus’, rather than a historic boxing event.

One boxer who has recently joined the likes of Gennady Golovkin in criticising the fight is former two-weight champion, Paulie Malignaggi. The American, who lost his final fight on the David Haye-Tony Bellew undercard, was McGregor’s former sparing partner, only for the 36-year-old to leave the camp after not being happy with images which portrayed the sparing sessions over social media.

Malignaggi, speaking to MMA Hour, has now spoken out against Notorious and the treatment the Irishman was dishing out to the American:

“This guy [McGregor] is one of the biggest dirtbags I’ve ever met in my life – bar none,

I was amazed at what a dirtbag this person is. I don’t care if we never speak again. My life is fine if I never see Conor McGregor again…

If somebody went through that tough a time in life just a few years ago, they wouldn’t treat people who were not as fortunate as him that bad.”

With Malignaggi spending extended periods of time in the McGregor camp, the American was staying in a nearby apartment to accommodate the sparing partner; by all accounts, the accommodation was hardly mirroring the lavish lifestyle McGregor bathes himself in:

“I mean, yeah, it works. But it’s not really what you expect. … It reminded me of some kind of crack house that had been barely renovated a little bit.”

The insight the retired boxer has given on life behind the scenes of all the flashy social media posts suggest an environment where McGregor could not give a care in the world for those trying to help in the fight.

It’s further damaging PR for the so-called ‘circus’ event, and one which hardly paints ‘Notorious’ as the hospitable Irishman who gives back to those assisting him.